An Eighty Percent Solution (CorpGov) Read Online Free Page A

filled his tastefully decorated home . Tony flopped down on one of his imitation black vinyl sofas and kicked at what appeared to be a white bearskin rug.
    “ Percomm Carmine at work .” The solido of a flowing brook filled the middle of the room , until a few moments later the face of a beautiful Pacific Islander replaced it . Her dark skin contrasted the white brilliance of her long hair and white lace bodice . “Nice lightning bolts,” Tony playfully commented about the pattern of blue over each of her just barely hidden areolas.
    “Hi, baby ! What are you doing at home ? Playing sick ? I can’t come and play nurse today .” Her tone implied that her nursing would have very little to do with the medical profession.
    “I wish . No, I had some trouble on the TriMet . I helped an old woman survive a coronary .”
    Her smiling face transformed into a frown that showed a harsher side of her beauty. “Why did you do that ? She might sleaze you and I don’t scope having a blue coat bibling me to rodent your mental state . If they spent the dime and didn’t just Nil you .” Anger brought out the gutter in her speech . Carmine, despite her limited intelligence, had pulled herself up from the st r eets from a Nil — a person outside of the databases who could be killed by anyone just for fun — to a respectable member of society .
    Tony smiled to put her off guard. “You mean you wouldn’t lie for me, Mink ? Nah, don’t worry . You know I can always land on my feet .”
    “Don’t you ‘ Mink ’ me ! I’m only your mink when you behave ! Her family might send a Private Enforcer . I’m not mixed up enough to think that’s behaving . I don’t want a corpse for a sweetie . Hell , they may even box you. ”
    “Enough . I got the point . Shall we meet for lunch?”
    “Nope . Betty ’ s taking me to Powell’s bookstore for a romp in the stacks .”
    He smiled . She often joked about her liaisons . She probably only planned a shopping trip of some kind , or a visit to the manicurist for new nail implants. “Don’t wear her out too much . She’s due to come back here tonight.”
    “Tease!” she said, sticking her tongue out at him, flashing the blue lightning bolt tattooed there as well . “Wi lted Rose?”
    “ Tomorrow night, half-dozen . I have a late appointment tonight . Later, Mink.”
    “I’ll ‘ Mink ’ you,” she said in mock anger as she switched off the percomm .
    * * *
 
    The rich, musty smell of autumn harvest filled the Rose Garden Arena as Sonya , wearing only her tattoos and a loose brown chemise that went down to mid-thigh, wandered around through the milling swarms of people . Despite how people packed themselves in between unlicensed hucksters and questionable food stalls, a zone of emptiness 2 meters across flowed with her . Random decisions and free action always seemed to keep that zone open with Sonya in the center . No one noticed the gap.
    She breathed deeply to draw in the spicy draft of roasting chilies, bruised thyme, garbled lavender , and simmering mystery stew heavy with the stink of cabbage . She stopped at a stall with dried herbs in plastic containers and a n Hispanic proprietress . The pots encircled her four layers deep . “ Te de diosa ,” Sonya said .
    While p ivoting around , the woman grabbed leaves and pieces of bark out of seemingly random bins and stuffed them into a loose plastic bag . With her bare hands she gently stirred the dry concoction before sealing it with a plastic tie . Sonya handed her a credit slip in exchange, dropped her goddess tea fixings into her woven marketing bag , and moved on .
    Two Metros, decked out in full assault gear — the only way a policeman would be seen at street level — strolled by with their own radius of emptiness around them . The members of the throng would take one look and decide to visit a stall in the opposite direction . The two toughs walked right by Sonya without a second glance, even as she passed through